6 Corrigendum for the September 2008, Quarterly Key Data Report, ComReg Doc 08/101 o Mobile subscriptions for the period Q have been revised to 5,217,359 from 5,208,317. o Fixed line revenues have been revised from just under 572 million to just over 565 million for the period Q3 2008, and consequently fixed market shares based on revenues have also been revised for the following operators: o Eircom from 67.4% to 68.2% o BT from 14.6% to 14.8% o Verizon from 3.3% to 2.3% Legal Disclaimer The information and statistics contained within this document are derived from a variety of sources, but are mostly reliant on data obtained from authorised operators. This document does not constitute commercial or other advice. No warranty, representation or undertaking of any kind, express or implied, is given in relation to the information and statistics contained within this document. To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither the Commission for Communications Regulation ( ComReg ) nor any of its employees, servants or agents will be liable for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with your use of, or any reliance whatsoever placed on this document (including, but not limited to, indirect or consequential loss or damages, loss of income, profit or opportunity, loss of or damage to property and claims of third parties) even if ComReg has been advised of the possibility of such loss or damages or such loss or damages were reasonably foreseeable. 5 ComReg 09/17

7 Summary As the world economy faces into a challenging economic period, the latest aggregated quarterly revenue and traffic data from Irish operators present mixed results. Below is a short synopsis of Irish electronic communications statistics for the period Q As per last quarter, overall market revenues decreased this quarter by 0.7% to under 1.1 billion. This represents a fall of 4.4% on Q Fixed revenues retain the dominant share at 49.6%, followed by mobile (46%) and broadcasting (4.4%). Total voice traffic minutes increased by 1.0% this quarter to over 5.1 billion minutes. This represents a 7.4% increase on Q Mobile minutes form the majority of voice minutes at 57.9% with fixed minutes representing the remaining 42.1%. This suggests that fixed mobile substitution in terms of voice usage continues to increase. The top four fixed line operators by revenue market share are Eircom (68.4%), BT (14.5%), Verizon (2.2%), and Access (2.2%). The number of direct and indirect access paths (narrowband only) declined 0.8% this quarter and 1.8% on Q to 2.05 million paths. This quarter total internet subscriptions increased to 1,437,730. This represents a growth rate of 3.7% since last quarter and 18.5% on Q Narrowband internet subscriptions continued to fall, declining by 9.2% this quarter and 27.3% on Q to 237,475. Broadband subscriptions continued to increase, reaching 1,200,255 this quarter. This represents an increase of 6.7% on last quarter and 35.4% on Q Broadband per capita penetration reached 27.1% this quarter. Data from ECTA ranks Ireland in 13 th place among the EU27 countries in terms of per capita fixed broadband penetration as of September According to Informa, Ireland had a household broadband penetration rate of 62.6% in Q3 2008, ranking Ireland in 10 th place among the EU27 countries. Mobile per capita penetration (inc. HSDPA) was 121% in Q Excluding HSDPA, the penetration rate was 114%. 6 ComReg 09/17

8 Mobile revenues increased by 3% this quarterly, but have decreased by 4.6% since Q This increase this quarter may be explained by handset sales over the Christmas period. According to the Yankee Group data, Ireland s ARPU was 41.2 per month in Q above the EU average of However, this represents a 7.2% decrease for Ireland since Q compared to a 4.5% decrease for the EU average. Mobile revenue market share (exc. Eircom mobile and Tesco mobile) indicates that Vodafone represents 41.1% of the market, followed by O2 (37.9%), Meteor (18.2%), and 3 Ireland (2.8%). Notes to data: In this report Irish population estimates from the Central Statistics Office of 4,422,100 for April 2008 are used. This may have a downward impact on penetration rates in this quarter when compared to previous quarters. For Ireland s household broadband penetration rate, a figure of 1,549,511 households is used based on Informa data. A number of external sources are used for international comparisons. These include the Yankee Group, Informa, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Teligen and ECTA. In most cases data has been rounded to one decimal place in this report. Q submissions for EU Networks Ireland and Cable and Wireless were used in this report. Further explanations and descriptions of data supplied in this report can be found in the accompanying explanatory memorandum 09/17a. Extracts of data used in this report can be downloaded at 7 ComReg 09/17

9 1 Overall Market Data Data presented in this report is based on quarterly questionnaires completed by authorised operators for the period from 1 st October 2008 to 31 st December The report is based on submissions from 62 active operators Number of Authorisations Figure Total Number of Authorisations Total Authorisations March 2009 No. of fixed and wireless authorisations 338 No. of mobile telephony authorisations 7 No. of broadcasting authorisations (incl. Cable TV, MMDS, Deflectors) 85 Total Number 430 Before providing networks or services to third parties, operators are required to submit a notification to ComReg which is added to a central register of authorised operators. At the date of publication there were 430 authorised undertakings in Ireland. It should be noted that the list above refers to the number of general authorisations granted by ComReg under the European Framework for Authorisations, and does not necessarily reflect the total number of commercially active organisations or entities currently operating in the market. The total includes a number of undertakings who are authorised to use licenseexempt spectrum for the provision of services. 1 Q submissions for EU Networks Ireland and Cable and Wireless were used in this report. 8 ComReg 09/17

10 1.2 Overall Electronic Communications Revenues 2 Data presented in Figure examines the proportion of industry revenue attributable to the provision of fixed line, mobile and cable broadcasting services. Figure Fixed, Mobile & Broadcasting as a % of Total Revenues 100% 4.1% 4.1% Share of Overall Market Value 4.0% 4.0% 4.0% 4.3% 4.5% 4.5% 4.4% 90% 80% 70% 45.5% 44.1% 45.1% 45.5% 46.1% 43.7% 44.1% 44.4% 46.0% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 50.3% 51.7% 50.8% 50.6% 49.9% 52.0% 51.4% 51.2% 49.6% 10% 0% Q4 06 Q1 07 Q2 07 Q3 07 Q4 07 Q1 08 Q2 08 Q3 08 Q4 08 Source: Quarterly Key Data Questionnaire Fixed Mobile Broadcasting Overall electronic communications network and service revenues at the end of December 2008 were just under 1.1bn for the quarter. Annual revenues were over 4.4bn for Industry revenues decreased by 0.7% this quarter and have fallen 4.4% on Q While fixed and broadcasting revenues declined in this quarter, mobile revenues increased by 2.9%. The increase in mobile revenue was due; in particular, to handset sales which may reflect the fact that Christmas fell in the period of this report. It should be noted that broadcasting revenues are understated in this report, as satellite TV revenues are not included in the analysis due to data availability issues. In Q fixed line revenues accounted for 49.6% of total electronic communications revenues, a 1.6 percentage point decrease since Q In contrast, the mobile industry s share of revenue increased from 44.4% to 46%. Broadcasting revenues fell marginally in Q and represent 4.4% of the market. 2 For further detail on terms and definitions see ComReg Document Number 09/17a Explanatory Memorandum to Quarterly Key Data Report. 9 ComReg 09/17

12 Figure Total Voice Traffic Q4 08 Mins ( 000s) Quarterly Growth Q3 08 Q4 08 Year-on-Year Growth Q4 07 Q4 08 Fixed voice minutes 2,154, % -7.6% Mobile voice minutes 2,960, % +21.8% Total voice minutes 5,114, % +7.4% 1.4 Pricing Overview This section examines Ireland s current and previous rankings based on a comparison of prices for specific consumer baskets in a number of EU countries. Data on PSTN 4 and mobile baskets is provided to ComReg by Teligen who use an OECD-approved methodology to compare fixed (PSTN) and mobile tariffs. This format follows a basic three-step process consisting of: the construction of one or more baskets of telephone services (including variable (e.g. calls) and fixed (e.g. rental) charges); the pricing of those baskets; and the conversion of the individual currencies to standard units (i.e. US Dollars or Euros and Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs)). Countries are then ranked based on PPPs, with the least expensive country ranked 1 st. The charts presented in this section provide an overview of Ireland s ranking relative to 19 other EU member states for which data is available since the revision of the OECD baskets in February Individual pricing charts for each basket for November 2008 are analysed under the heading Pricing Data in the specific mobile and fixed sections of this document. Ireland s position is ranked in relation to other EU member states. For further information on Teligen s methodology please see the accompanying memorandum ComReg 09/17a. 4 PSTN refers to a public switched telephone network or copper telephony network, on which calls can be made. A PSTN line is more commonly known as a copper telephone line. 11 ComReg 09/17

13 1.4.1 PSTN Baskets Figure shows the movement in Ireland s position relative to 18 other EU countries in all PSTN baskets since November 2006, where the least expensive country based on the methodology is ranked 1 st. Ireland continues to remain less expensive than the average basket cost across three of the PSTN services analysed (national business, international residential and international business baskets). This quarter, Ireland s positions in the national residential call basket and in the national business call basket remain the same as Q (in 14 th and 6 th place respectively). Ireland s position has also remained the same for both the international residential and business baskets (in 2 nd and 3 rd place respectively). Figure Ireland s Position in the Various PSTN Baskets 14 Ireland's Position in the Various PSTN Baskets Nov Nov Relative Ranking Nov-06 Feb-07 May-07 Aug-07 Nov-07 Feb-08 May-08 Aug-08 Nov-08 Nat. Residential Nat. Business Int'l Residential Int'l Business Source: Teligen 12 ComReg 09/17

14 1.4.2 Mobile Baskets Figure shows the movement in Ireland s position in all mobile baskets since November 2006 relative to 18 other EU countries, where the least expensive country is ranked 1 st. Ireland s position in the low user post-paid basket remains 7 th since the last ranking, which is relatively less expensive than at any time in the last two years. Ireland s position in the medium user post-paid basket is now 9 th, an improvement of one place since August In the high user post-paid basket Ireland has improved by two places since August 2008 and is now 8 th. Finally, in the pre-paid basket Ireland s position has not changed since February 2008 and remains in 8 th position. Figure Ireland s Position in Various Mobile Baskets 14 Ireland's Position in the Various Mobile Baskets: Nov '06 - Nov ' Relative Ranking Nov '06 Feb '07 May '07 Aug '07 Nov '07 Feb '08 May '08 Aug '08 Nov '08 Low User- (post paid) Medium User (post paid) High User (post paid) Pre-paid Source: Teligen 13 ComReg 09/17

18 Figure below outlines revenue market shares of the total fixed market in Q3 and Q in terms of revenue shares (of interconnect, retail narrowband, retail broadband and leased line, managed and other data) held by the incumbent fixed line operator, OAOs with a minimum 2% market share, and all other OAOs. When making comparisons, it is important to note that the market shares presented below are based on shares across all fixed wholesale and retail revenue streams while some operators may not offer products and services across all segments of the market. In Q4 2008, after Eircom, the largest revenue-earning operator in the market with 68.4% market share, ComReg estimates that the next three largest operators (BT Ireland, Verizon, and Access Telecom) contribute a further 18.9% of industry revenue. These charts are presented as an additional analysis of the fixed market and should not be interpreted as a definitive statement of retail revenue market shares. ComReg intends to review the reporting of fixed market revenues in Figure Revenue Market Share of Fixed Line Operators Revenue Market Share of Fixed Line Operators, Q4'08 BT, 14.5% eircom, 68.4% Other OAOs, 12.8% Verizon, 2.2% Access, 2.2% Source: Quarterly Key Data Questionnaire Revenue Market Share of Fixed Line Operators, Q3'08 BT, 14.8% eircom, 68.2% Other OAOs, 12.6% Verizon, 2.3% Access, 2.0% Source: Quarterly Key Data Questionnaire 17 ComReg 09/17

19 2.2 Fixed Line Access Paths Access Paths Figure presents the total number of narrowband fixed access paths (PSTN and ISDN) broken out by direct and indirect access 7. These paths are usually used for voice services and dial up internet access. There were just over 2.05 million direct and indirect PSTN and ISDN access paths in the Irish market in Q This represents a decline of 1.8% since Q and 0.8% since Q In Q4 2008, indirect access accounted for 22.9% of all access paths in the fixed market. 8 This represents a small increase on the previous quarter, due to a 1% increase in the overall number of indirect access paths and a similar level of decrease in direct access paths. While this chart shows the number of narrowband only access paths in Ireland, voice and data can also be supplied by other means such as broadband. Details on the broadband market in Ireland can be found in chapter 3 of this report. Figure Direct & Indirect Narrowband Fixed Access Paths 100% 90% Direct & Indirect Narrowband Access Paths 22.8% 22.9% 22.7% 22.4% 22.2% 22.1% 22.3% 22.4% 22.9% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 77.2% 77.1% 77.3% 77.6% 77.8% 77.9% 77.7% 77.6% 77.1% 30% 20% 10% 0% Q4'06 Q1'07 Q2'07 Q3'07 Q4'07 Q1'08 Q2'08 Q3'08 Q4'08 Source: Quarterly Key Data Questionnaire Total Direct Total Indirect 7 Indirect access paths relate to telephone lines provided to customers by means of carrier pre-select only or wholesale line rental. Carrier preselect allows the user to receive all or a portion of calls from one provider and line rental from another provider (usually Eircom). Wholesale line rental (also known as single billing) allows the user to receive every aspect of telephone service, including all calls and line rental from one single supplier. 8 Access paths are not synonymous with access lines as for example in the case of ISDN paths, there may be more than 1 path provided via a single ISDN line. 18 ComReg 09/17

20 2.2.2 Indirect Access Paths Figure illustrates the overall number of PSTN and ISDN paths provided by means of either Carrier Pre-Selection (CPS) only or Wholesale Line Rental (WLR). In Q4 2008, there were over 470,000 indirect access paths in Ireland. The number of indirect access paths grew by just over 1% in Q The number of indirect access paths has increased by a similar amount in the year to Q This chart shows how OAOs are continuing to migrate their customer base to single-bill services, i.e. WLR rather than CPS (i.e. calls only) services to customers. WLR managed by OAOs now account for 81% of indirect access paths compared to 66% in Q This is in contrast to CPS which has declined by just over 15 percentage points over the same period. Figure Narrowband Indirect Access Paths 500,000 Carrier Pre-Select and Wholesale Line Rental 450, ,000 Access Paths 350, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,000 50, , , , , , , , ,916 88,728 Q4'06 Q1'07 Q2'07 Q3'07 Q4'07 Q1'08 Q2'08 Q3'08 Q4'08 Source: Quarterly Key Data Questionnaire CPS WLR 19 ComReg 09/17

21 2.3 Fixed Voice Call Volumes Fixed voice call traffic in Q was just over 2.15 billion minutes, which was a 3.6% decrease since Q and a fall of 7.6% since Q The largest fall over the year has been in minutes to mobile followed by domestic minutes, international outgoing minutes and other minutes. Voice over broadband minutes now account for approximately 1.7% of this total. ComReg data, provided by operators, shows over 36.2 million VoB minutes for Q4 2008, a three-fold increase on VoB minutes of almost 11.7 million in Q The data suggests that VoB is growing in popularity.. While the minutes reported here represent managed VoB, Skype a large provider of unmanaged VoIP calls have indicated that they are witnessing increasing use of VoIP and estimate that approximately 8% of the world s voice minutes originate via Skype 9. In terms of year on year traffic, minutes to mobile have dropped by 13.5% since Q4 2007, domestic minutes declined by approximately 7.2%, international outgoing minutes declined by 6% and other minutes fell by 4.3%. Since this analysis began in Q4 2006, the percentage split between domestic, international, mobile minutes and other minutes has revealed a slow decline in the percentage of fixed to mobile minutes and an increase in international outgoing minutes. Other categories have remained relatively consistent over the period. Changes in the volumes and profile of fixed line traffic continue to be monitored by ComReg for evidence of changes in fixed line usage, such as increased fixed-mobile substitution. Figure illustrates trends in fixed voice call minutes since Q Figure Fixed Voice Call Volume (Minutes) 10 Call Volume by Type Q4' % 13.9% 14.4% 15.5% Q3' % 13.6% 15.1% 16.1% Q2' % 13.9% 15.0% 16.0% Q1' % 13.7% 14.8% 16.0% Q4' % 13.7% 15.4% 15.0% Q3' % 13.6% 15.8% 15.4% Q2' % 13.6% 16.2% 14.4% Q1' % 13.3% 15.8% 14.2% Q4' % 12.8% 15.7% 15.2% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Source: Quarterly Key Data Questionnaire Domestic Minutes Mins to Mobile International Outgoing Minutes Other/ Advanced Minutes ComReg 09/17

22 2.4 PSTN Pricing Data ComReg presents independently-collated Teligen data using an OECD-approved methodology to examine the relative costs of a number of specific baskets of national and international telecoms services for both residential and business users. The data presented includes all EU countries for which data is available 11. Using this methodology, data is presented using USD ($) converted to Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs). The latter provides an indication of the cost of telecoms services in countries analysed in relation to the cost of all other products and services, and takes account of exchange rate differences OECD National Residential Basket Figure illustrates Ireland s ranking, alongside the other 18 EU countries, in the national residential basket, based on a basket of calls and fixed costs for usage over a 12 month period. This chart is based on a comparison of the cheapest incumbent package available for a specific customer usage profile. In many cases this will be a bundled service which will include both line rental and a bundle of call minutes for a fixed monthly charge. It should therefore be noted that the fixed element in this basket is not an indication of the cost of basic line rental. In November 2008 Ireland ranked in 14 th position, behind the average of the 19 EU countries in terms of the most competitive pricing for this basket. Ireland s position has remained unchanged since August Figure OECD National Residential Basket November Fixed OECD National Residential Basket - Nov 2008 Usage Average Costs (US$/PPP) Belgium (1) Denmark (2) Sweden (3) UK (4) Luxembourg (5) Spain (6) Slovak Rep. (11) Italy (8) Germany (7) Austria (9) Finland (10) Average France (12) Source: Teligen To note: The numbers in brackets represent each Member State s respective rankings as at August 2008 Portugal (13) Ireland (14) Netherlands (15) Greece (16) Hungary (17) Poland (18) Czech Rep. (19) 10 Domestic Calls include local & national calls. Advanced service and other minutes include minutes to premium rate numbers, freephone numbers, callsave, operator services, VoB minutes, VPN minutes, payphones and other services. 11 This will be determined by whether the EU country is also an OECD member. 21 ComReg 09/17

23 2.4.2 OECD National Business Basket As with the residential basket, the chart below is based on a comparison of the cheapest incumbent business package available for a set number of voice calls over a 12 month period, and in many cases will include a fixed charge for access as part of a bundled service. It should be noted that the fixed element in this basket is not an indication of the cost of basic line rental. Ireland remains in 6 th position in the rankings, ahead of the average for the 19 EU countries. Figure OECD National Business Basket November Fixed OECD National Business Basket - Nov 2008 Usage Average Costs (US$/PPP) Denmark (1) Germany (2) Belgium (3) Luxembourg (4) Sweden (5) Ireland (6) Greece (7) Slovak Rep. (10) Spain (9) Finland (8) Netherlands (11) Average Source: Teligen To note: The numbers in brackets represent each Member State s respective rankings as at August 2008 Austria (12) Hungary (14) Italy (13) France (15) Portugal (16) Poland (17) Czech Rep. (19) UK (18) 12 Residential tariffs include VAT. VAT rates vary between member states. 22 ComReg 09/17

24 2.4.3 OECD International Residential Basket Figure ranks the 19 EU countries based on the cost of residential three-minute peak international calls and five-minute off-peak international calls from one country to all other countries in the basket. This chart shows that Ireland continues to maintain second position among the 19 EU countries. Ireland has ranked in second place since February Figure OECD International Residential Basket November Average Costs (US$/PPP) OECD International Residential Basket - Nov 2008 Germany (1) Ireland (2) Sweden (3) Netherlands (4) Luxembourg (5) Austria (6) Denmark (7) Poland (10) Belgium (8) France (9) Average Spain (11) UK (12) Finland (13) Slovak Rep. (14) Czech Rep. (15) Hungary (16) Italy (17) Portugal (18) Source: Teligen To note: The numbers in brackets represent each Member State s respective rankings as at August 2008 Greece (19) 13 Residential tariffs include VAT. VAT rates vary between member states. 23 ComReg 09/17

25 2.4.4 OECD International Business Basket As with the previous chart, figure ranks the 19 EU countries based on the cost of business three-minute peak international calls and five-minute off-peak international calls from one country to all other countries in the basket. Ireland has maintained its ranking of third place since February 2008 and is below the average of the 19 EU countries. Figure OECD International Business Basket November 2008 OECD International Business Basket - Nov Average Costs (US$/PPP) Germany (1) Luxembourg (2) Ireland (3) Sweden (4) Austria (5) Denmark (6) Netherlands (7) France (8) Average Hungary (12) Czech Rep. (11) Belgium (9) Slovak Rep. (13) Source: Teligen To note: The numbers in brackets represent each Member State s respective rankings as at August 2008 Spain (10) Poland (15) Finland (14) Greece (17) Italy (16) Portugal (18) UK (19) 24 ComReg 09/17

26 3 Internet and Broadband 3.1 Total Internet Subscriptions At the end of Q4 2008, there were over 1.4 million active internet subscriptions in Ireland. This is a 3.7% growth on the previous quarter and an 18.5% increase on the same period last year. Overall, narrowband subscriptions continued to decline in Q Flat-rate narrowband subscriptions fell by 9.7% and metered narrowband subscriptions decreased by 9.1%. Total broadband subscriptions continued to grow strongly in the quarter, up by 6.7% since Q3 2008, the same growth for the previous quarter. If mobile broadband (HSDPA) subscriptions are excluded, growth for Q was 4% and for the year since Q4 2007, 17.5%. Mobile broadband (via HSDPA, HSPA and 3G) continues to show strong signs of growth and increased by 15% in Q In the twelve months to December 2008 mobile broadband subscriptions increased by 142%. Figure shows the total number of narrowband and broadband subscriptions to internet services in Ireland. Figure Total Number of Active Internet Subscriptions Subscription Type Metered Narrowband Flat Rate Narrowband Q4 08 Subs Quarterly Growth Q3 08- Q4 08 Year-on-Year Growth Q4 07- Q ,181-9% -27% 33,294-10% -31% DSL Broadband ,025 +4% +20% Other Broadband , % +61% Total Internet Subscriptions 1,437,730 +4% +19% 14 DSL refers to a digital subscriber line, the means by which broadband speeds (i.e. in excess of 144k downstream) are delivered over the copper telecoms network. 15 Other Broadband includes cable broadband, fixed wireless access, fibre, satellite and mobile broadband connections. 25 ComReg 09/17

27 Figure profiles internet subscriptions in Ireland using the classifications of subscription type outlined in figure Broadband subscriptions account for 83.5% of all internet subscriptions. Figure provides a profile for the periods Q Q for historical trend purposes. However, the inclusion of mobile broadband subscriptions in the Other Broadband category from Q means quarter on quarter comparisons should not be drawn between the current period and data prior to Q DSL subscriptions alone account for 45.9% of all internet subscriptions. DSL s share of total internet subscriptions has increased by nine percentage points over the last two years while metered narrowband and flat-rate narrowband s combined share has fallen by 35 percentage points over the same period. Since mobile broadband subscriptions were included in Q2 2007, the Other Broadband category has grown by 18 percentage points. It should also be noted that while narrowband subscriptions made up 51% of total internet subscriptions in 2006, they now account for only 16%. Figure Profile of Active Internet Subscriptions 100% Narrowband Metered, Narrowband Flat-rate, DSL and Other Broadband Subscriptions 90% 80% 13% 16% 20% 24% 28% 32% 33% 35% 38% Percentage of Subscriptions 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 37% 9% 42% 42% 7% 35% 43% 6% 31% 43% 5% 28% 45% 4% 23% 46% 45% 46% 46% 3% 3% 3% 2% 19% 18% 16% 14% 0% Q4'06 Q1'07 Q2'07 Q3'07 Q4'07 Q1'08 Q2'08 Q3'08 Q4'08 Narrowband Metered Narrowband Flat Rate DSL Other Broadband Source: Quarterly Key Data Questionnaire 26 ComReg 09/17

29 3.2 Provision of DSL Access Figure examines the provision of DSL access. DSL broadband services are provided to consumers by operators using three alternative methods of access. DSL may be provided directly to the consumer by Eircom using direct access to its network; this accounted for 68.9% of all DSL subscriptions in December Retail DSL may also be provided by alternative operators (OAOs) who use either wholesale bitstream, which enables OAOs to resell another operator s DSL service, or by offering DSL-based broadband using local-loop unbundling (LLU). At the end of December 2008, 27.6% of all DSL lines were provided by OAOs using wholesale bitstream, and the remaining 3.5% of DSL lines were provided to subscribers by OAOs using local-loop unbundling. At the end of December 2008 there were 22,652 local loops unbundled. Eircom s market share of retail DSL lines has grown by three percentage points over the last two years. Figure Provision of DSL Access 100% Provision of DSL Access, Q4'06 - Q4'08 5.2% 4.4% 3.9% 3.6% 3.3% 3.2% 3.2% 3.3% 3.4% 90% 80% 29.3% 29.3% 28.8% 28.1% 27.7% 27.4% 27.8% 28.0% 27.6% Percentage of Lines 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 65.5% 66.2% 67.2% 68.3% 69.0% 69.4% 69.0% 68.7% 68.9% 20% 10% 0% Q4'06 Q1'07 Q2'07 Q3'07 Q4'07 Q1'08 Q2'08 Q3'08 Q4'08 eircom Retail DSL Wholesale Bitstream lines LLU lines Source: Quarterly Key Data Questionnaire 28 ComReg 09/17

30 Figure shows the number of unbundled lines classified by shared and full 16 status. Between Q and Q the total number of LLU lines declined by approximately 8.2%. However, in the twelve months to December 2008 this trend was been reversed. In Q total LLU lines grew by 9.1%, while the annual growth was 26.4%. Fully unbundled lines accounted for 76.3% of total LLU lines in Q The proportion of shared lines relative to the total number of LLU lines has increased over the last two years. In Q4 2006, shared LLU lines accounted for only 5.3% while in Q they accounted for 23.7%. Figure Number of Local Loops Unbundled 25,000 Number of LLU Lines Installed Q4'06 - Q4'08 22,652 20,000 19,528 Number of Lines Installed 15,000 10,000 18,488 17,283 5,000 5,369 1,040 - Q4'06 Q1'07 Q2'07 Q3'07 Q4'07 Q1'08 Q2'08 Q3'08 Q4'08 Source: Quarterly Key Data Questionnaire Full LLU Lines Shared LLU Lines Total LLU Lines 16 Full LLU and shared LLU two of the ways a copper loop may be unbundled. While full LLU assigns the entire copper loop to the leasing operator, shared LLU enables other operators and the incumbent to share the same line. Consumers can acquire voice and data services from an operator or alternatively data services alone while retaining the voice services of the incumbent. 29 ComReg 09/17

31 Although the number of LLU lines has increased over the last twelve months, figure shows that Ireland still lags the EU average in terms of the growth in LLU lines. Using data as of Q provided by the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) LLU lines for Ireland grew by 14.4% in the year to September The average European growth was 39.1%. The UK, Germany and Italy also showed significant, growth during this period. Figure Growth in European Unbundled Local Loops 70% % Increase in LLU used for Broadband, Q3'07 - Q3'08 60% 50% 59.1% 40% 30% 20% 10% 45.0% 44.9% 44.0% 39.1% 33.1% 32.4% 29.5% 26.2% 25.3% 24.2% 24.1% 23.8% 19.5% 14.4% 13.5% 11.3% 8.8% 4.2% 0% UK Germany Italy Slovenia EU Average Spain Hungary Finland Czech Rep. Belgium France Denmark Lithuania Portugal Ireland Netherlands Latvia Austria Sweden Source: ECTA B'band Scorecard Q3'08 Note: L'bourg, Cyprus and a number of other countries excluded for charting purpose 30 ComReg 09/17

32 3.3 Provision of Broadband Services Figure summarises the total number of broadband subscriptions at the end of the quarter by access technology. High Speed DownLink Packet Access (HSDPA) provides mobile broadband access to a growing number of Irish consumers. In order to fully reflect the range of broadband services available to customers in Ireland, ComReg started to include this data in its overview of the market in the Q report. At the end of December 2008, there were 1,200,255 broadband subscriptions in Ireland. This represents a growth rate of 6.7% in the number of subscriptions for this quarter. FWA subscriptions, which had declined over the last couple of quarters, increased slightly by 0.6% in Q Annual growth for FWA subscriptions is flat. Mobile broadband showed the highest growth of all platforms this quarter, growing by 15% in Q Between Q and Q mobile broadband subscriptions have increased by 142% while total broadband subscriptions grew by 35.4%. Figure Broadband Subscriptions 18 and Growth Rates by Platform Platform Q4 08 Subs Quarterly Growth Q3 08 Q4 08 Year-on-Year Growth Q4 07 Q4 08 DSL 660,025 +4% +25% Cable 104,133 +9% +20% FWA 118,497 +1% 0% Other 19 8,691-9% +5% Sub-Total 891,346 +4% +18% Mobile Broadband 308, % +142% Total 1,200,255 +7% +35% 17 In Q an estimate of 45,000 mobile broadband subscriptions was used. 18 ComReg notes that the data provided in this section relates to active subscriptions reported by operators. It takes into account multiple active subscriptions to broadband offerings by individual subscribers. 19 Other Broadband includes Satellite and Optical Fibre broadband subscriptions. 31 ComReg 09/17

36 Figure illustrates the breakdown of broadband subscriptions by contracted speed across all broadband platforms. The chart shows that both residential and business users are more likely to subscribe to packages of between 2Mbps - 10Mbps. The trend of customers moving to higher speeds has continued in Q Four per cent of residential users have subscriptions in the >10Mbps range compared to only 1.6% in Q The percentage of both residential and business subscriptions in the lowest speed range has remained relatively constant since the last quarter. It is interesting to note that 68% of business subscriptions are in the 2Mbps 10Mbps range this quarter compared to 72.6% in Q3 2008, while 25% of business subscriptions are in the 1Mbps 1.99Mbps range this quarter compared to 19.4% in Q Figure Broadband Subscriptions by Contracted Download Speeds 80% 70% % of Subscriptions to Different Broadband Speed Offers Residential Non-Residential 68% Percentage of Subscriptions 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 35% 25% 60% 10% 4% 4% 3% 1% 0% 144kps-999kps 1Mbps-1.99Mbps 2Mbps-9.99Mbps >10Mbps Source: Quarterly Key Data Questionnaire Contracted Speeds 35 ComReg 09/17

2. FAST AND ULTRA-FAST INTERNET ACCESS 2.1. Introduction Over 99.9% of European homes can have access to broadband of at least a basic quality, when considering all technologies (including fixed, fixed-wireless,

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